Mike Billow spends most of his time at or going to one of his grandsons’ athletic competitions. The boys, Tyler and Trent Morris, are a senior and a junior, respectively, at Cooper High School.

“I love that they play sports,” said Billow, with whom the boys live. “It keeps me young running them around. It really wasn’t all that tough doing all the running, even when they were younger.”

Tyler is the starting quarterback for the Jaguars football team, while Trent picked a different sport, and is a starting forward for the boys’ soccer team. Playing sports runs deep for the brothers, as they both played football and baseball when they were younger, and Tyler still plays basketball for the Jags. Trent is thinking of joining the wrestling team this winter.

Billow’s running around is paying off for the Jaguars, with Tyler quarterbacking the football team to a 3-0 start. Two of the three wins have come at the expense of Ryle and Boone County, nearby rivals who had never fallen to Cooper prior to this season. Tyler is the kind of quarterback who can hurt opposing defenses with his arm and with his legs, throwing and rushing for touchdowns this season.

Meanwhile, Trent has helped the soccer team off to a 6-3 start. Trent entered the week as the second-leading scorer and second in assists for the soccer team.

“When he’s not at one of my game’s he’s at one of Trent’s, and when he’s not at one of Trent’s games he’s at mine,” Tyler said of his grandfather.

“He’s probably the biggest influence on my whole life, not just sports,” Trent said of his grandfather. “All the credit for all we know could go to grandpa.”

As to why the boys play different sports, no one has a precise answer. Billow said they each started out in soccer. “That was the first sport they could play,” he said.

Trent staying with soccer has paid off, for him and the Jags. “Trent's quickness and first five steps are the fastest on our team,” said Copper soccer coach Lucas Patterson. “He starts at striker for us where he complements our other striker, Zane Ross (who is one of the better strikers in the area). Those two work well off each other and create many scoring opportunities.”

“He’s more of an endurance kind of guy,” Tyler said of his brother. “He likes to run around a lot.”

“He was always the star in football, it’s his thing,” said Trent. “I wanted to do something that was mine.”

Having different sports doesn’t keep the brothers from being competitive, though, with each saying they compete with the other.

“Both of our successes drive each other to be better,” said Tyler. “We want to be better than each other.”

“Him getting all the recognition in football makes me want to live up to it, just in soccer instead of football,” said Trent.

Despite the competition, the boys have a good relationship – for the most part.

“They get along pretty well, but when they play sports, it’s on,” said Billow.